One Day, None of This Will Be Yours
No Mary Poppins handbag,
no umbrella or cough syrup
or keychain. You’ll rise up
from the street, the flag
your body has always been
becoming. No heavy pockets,
no rat’s nest of wires, socket
bloated, sparking. No sheepskin
rug, inherited, a robe flopped
down on the floor with no being
inside. No bookshelf disagreeing
with itself about posture, propped
up with a Norton Anthology.
No filing cabinet. No need
to hold onto statements or deeds.
No need for new technology.
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11 comments:
Oh, but I WANT Mary Poppins' handbag! Love this, Hannah, even though I don't like it. :) Especially love "the flag your body has always been becoming." You inspire me!
And I especially love that bookshelf, posture, anthology biz!!
this reminds me of another of your poems, fraction, which i love, but it reminds me of yet another of yours i can not find, but which yelps at the back of my throat like a hungry bird. (might you know which?)
this is our primary lesson, isn't it? listening to a radio show on Lucretius yesterday i realize just how slowly we learn our lessons.
you are not just writing here, are you? you are learning, writing, and teaching.
xo
erin
I love the unspoken tone of abandonment and loss between the discarded and the discarder here, as well as the comfortable details, the inspired and inspiring rhymes.
Wonderful details. I especially like "No bookshelf disagreeing/with itself about posture, propped//up with a Norton Anthology." What writer or reader cannot identify with that?!
I was having mixed feeling until I came upon "no statements" and I thought wow...I like that One Day! : )
The flag the body's been becoming and the sheepskin "robe" with no being inside--superb. Also, such natural rhymes they could be overlooked, yet they lead you to some extra-interesting and apt word choices. Very, very skillful, H.
u r one of my favorite poets. of all time.
Thank you so much for these comments. I'm glad you are liking these (sort of a new collection forming).
Erin, maybe you are thinking of my poem Home and Garden (possibly?)...I've taken some down to work on further, so maybe it was one of those!
I appreciate all of your comments!
I LOVE this!
I particularly like this one, Hannah, and the general direction it's taking, plus those two images of the body-as-flag, and the propped bookshelf, are pretty memorable!
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